French sources on the 27th said the US has stepped up military activity at
Ecuador’s Taura air base over recent months, citing counter‑narcotics
operations. From June to mid-October about 20 US military flights operated to
and from Taura, including C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster transports, V-22
Osprey tiltrotors and Black Hawk helicopters. Satellite imagery shows recent
large‑scale construction: several hectares of vegetation cleared, new
operational areas around the airfield, dozens of rapidly erected military tents
and a roughly 40m × 20m structure suspected to be an aircraft maintenance
hangar.
